AMHERST, Mass. (November 25, 2024) – OrthoLite®, the global leader of branded, high-performance, comfort footwear solutions, has expanded its OrthoLite India (OIN) facility in Ambur, Tamil Nadu India, and opened a new sales office in Chennai, all thanks to recent growth under new leadership.
The new building expands the footprint of OIN by three times and enables increased capacity to two million pairs of insoles per month. It also bolsters OrthoLite’s leatherwork capabilities; OIN is now fully equipped to make leather footbeds. The new facility makes OrthoLite India the largest insole manufacturer in South Asia.
OrthoLite India opened its doors in June 2021 and is one of six of OrthoLite’s vertically integrated, global facilities. Through increased investments to the region as well as key new hires in supply chain management and operations, OIN is poised to expand local capacities to meet the needs of OrthoLite’s growing number of brand partners in the region.
In June 2023, OrthoLite announced Vikash Bajargyan as the new General Manager of OrthoLite India. In his position, Bajargyan has been managing overall operations at OIN, which has included leading manufacturing and business development, as well as establishing and managing relationships with brands and Tier 1 factory partners. His leadership has been instrumental in this expansion.
“Vikash has been a strong leader in helping us grow our business quickly to meet our growing demand in this important region,” said Glenn Barrett, founder and CEO of OrthoLite. “India is a thriving market both for our domestic consumer and export business. OrthoLite’s expanded facility will also serve as an important hub for leather insole craftsmanship and other forthcoming innovations within our company.”
Under Bajargyan’s leadership, OrthoLite India is growing its team. Sweta Kannan has been tapped as OIN’s Operations Manager. With a BA and MBA in Business Administration, Kannan most recently spent the past 10 years as General Manager and running operations for a textile factory in Ambur. She also has significant experience in running lean line manufacturing.
Earlier this year, OIN welcomed Sureshbabu Seenivasagam and Anbu Sundaram who possess over 25 years of experience in merchandising and global supply chain and warehousing logistics in footwear.
OrthoLite India is a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that catalyzes local-for-local production and service. Sixty-one of OrthoLite’s 550+ global brand partners produce in India, and the region represents part of OrthoLite’s global production strategy to align its factories and provide efficient and exemplary service directly to local partners and T1s.
Like all of OrthoLite’s vertically-integrated, global manufacturing facilities, OrthoLite India brings consistency and capacity and delivers on the company-wide values of quality, sustainability, and continuous improvement.
For additional information on OrthoLite, please visit ortholite.com.
About OrthoLite®
OrthoLite is the world’s leading supplier of open-cell foam technology, and the innovator and creator of Cirql™, the sustainable materials solutions provider that provides footwear brands and their factory partners with lower impact, circular options in materials. OrthoLite is found in more than 550 footwear brands across all categories of footwear and is the first name in comfort and performance foams. OrthoLite has a stalwart ommitment to an ongoing journey toward producing excellence with less-impactful manufacturing practices. The company also has a long-standing history of meaningful partnerships and sponsorships that demonstrate a dedicated commitment to supporting its customers, consumers, brand partners and the footwear industry. OrthoLite is the Official Insole sponsor of the New York Yankees, supporter of The Conservation Alliance, The European Outdoor Conservation Association, Textile Exchange, and is a founding supporter of the Two Ten Foundation. Stay up to date with company news by visiting OrthoLite.com and following OrthoLite on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. To learn more about the benefits of OrthoLite, visit www.ortholite.com.
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